A former Philadelphia prison guard was sentenced on July 21 to serve more than four years in federal prison for smuggling drugs and other contraband into the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in the Northeast for an inmate in 2013 and ’15.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney also ordered John Wesley Herder, 50, to pay more than $2,000 in fines, penalties and costs, and to serve three years of supervised release.
On Oct. 16, 2013, Herder was working as a corrections officer when he smuggled a cell telephone and 100 Oxycontin pills past prison security in exchange for a $1,000 payment from an inmate. He smuggled another 100 pills on Jan. 15, 2015, in exchange for another $1,000.
When later questioned by the FBI, Herder denied bringing contraband into the prison. Yet, he pleaded guilty last Jan. 20 to attempted extortion under color of official right, attempted distribution of controlled substances and making false statements to federal agents.
